Minimum wage in Pennsylvania

The current minimum wage in Pennsylvania is $5.15 per hour but effective January 1, 2007 it will be raised to $6.15 per hour. This was the result of Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania signing a bill that raises the minimum wage rate beginning January 2007 to $6.15 per hour and increasing it again on July 1, 2007 to $7.15 per hour.

However, if a worker is working for an employer with ten or fewer full time employees the raise in the minimum wage will take effect over a two year time period. Beginning January 1, 2007 the minimum wage will be $5.65 per hour, then on January 1, 2007 it will be $6.65 per hour and finally by July 1, 2008 all minimum wage workers will be earning $7.15 per hour.

When Governor Rendell signed the bill into law he stated that this bill provides a fairer wage for more than 420,000 hard working Pennsylvanians who deserve a raise. The new minimum wage law also provides for a sixty day training wage that is based on the federal $5.15 per hour for employees who are under the age of twenty. However, the Pennsylvania’s minimum wage law makes it clear that employers may not dismiss workers and hire training wage workers in their place.

Many critics of increasing the minimum wage have said that an increase in the minimum wage will result in loss of jobs and higher unemployment. However, according to recent studies a moderate increase in the minimum wage has little or no effect on unemployment especially among low skilled workers. In fact, an increase in the minimum wage has proven that there are cost savings attached to the higher minimum wage. It was found that there was less job turn over, an increase in productivity because of better worker morale and higher quality employees were attracted to the job.